Drums, cheers and a little hope as ex-king flies in

Afghanistan's former king Zahir Shah, wearing a flat cap and a tailored Italian leather coat, ended his 29 years of exile yesterday when he stepped off an Italian military plane at Kabul airport.

Flanked by Hamid Karzai, the leader of the country's interim government, the frail 87-year-old walked past the dozens of wrecked planes that line the runway before riding in a black Mercedes to the modest villa that will be his home for the foreseeable future.

Hundreds of people waved Afghan flags, banged drums and cheered as the motorcade drove through the sunny, tree-lined streets of the capital. But in the centre of Kabul his arrival seemed to make little difference to the shopkeepers, their thronging clients, or the usual heavy traffic.

The former king had spent the night in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, after leaving his home in Rome on Wednesday. His return, first mooted after the Taliban's fall in November, was repeatedly delayed because of security fears.

Heavily armed soldiers from the international peacekeeping force and Afghan troops lined the road to the airport, while tanks and other armoured vehicles stood by.

Even those accredited to watch the king's arrival had to pass through five checkpoints where clothes and bags were carefully inspected. There were fears that a Stinger missile might be used in an assassination attempt.

Many Afghans did not want to see their former ruler return. Zahir Shah, like Mr Karzai, is from the Pashtun ethnic group, and many from Afghanistan's other ethnic minorities fear that his return may herald a new period of Pashtun domination.

The Tajik forces which captured Kabul six months ago have substantial power and see the king as a threat.

But Mr Zahir flew back to Kabul as an ordinary citizen, with just one official assigned to his staff.

In June, he will open a loya jirga , or grand council, which will choose a new interim government to rule for 18 months until a general election.

The council's 1,500 delegates from around the country are now being selected.

Supporters hope that the respect traditionally afforded to such a senior elder will help to unite rival ethnic groups under a single national banner. His mere return is a powerful symbol of progress towards some kind of lasting peace in Afghanistan, they say.

Zahir Shah's reign from 1933, when a deranged student shot his father, to 1973, when he was deposed by a cousin while undergoing medical treatment for lumbago, is seen by older Afghans, particularly Pashtuns, as a golden era.

"Since he left we haven't had any good times in our country," said Gholam Nabi, a 45-year-old army officer. "We consider this a new day."

For the moment Afghan politicians are doing their best to appear united. Senior representatives of all the rival factions turned out to greet him, from General Abdul Rashid Dostam, the Uzbek warlord who is deputy defence minister, to Mirwais Khan, the son of Ismail Khan, the fractious governor of Herat.

Concern about the king's health is being played down. Zalmay Rassoul, his former spokesman in Rome who is now Afghanistan's tourism minister, said the king had been reinvigorated since the US-led war against the Taliban made his homecoming possible: "He's a new man."

Last night all the lights were on in the two-storey house in the upmarket, if slightly battered, district of Wazir Akbar Khan where the king was to spend his first night. Outside, a heavy security presence kept onlookers - and the first petitioners - away.

The king does not want to leave his homeland again. "I'd like to dedicate the last few years of my life to the people of Afghanistan and to my country," he told reporters this week.

Mirwais, a bicycle seller in Kabul's main market, said: "I hope he brings peace. But I've learned not to hope too much."

Harder-nosed interests but similar sentiments boosted the currency from 34,000 to 25,000 afghanis to the dollar yesterday.